May 12, 2010

Here’s the latest video making its rounds on the internet of yet another group imitating Beyonce‘s video, Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It). Only this time it’s a bunch of midriff-bearing, gyrating 7-year-olds.

Thoughts?

First, I find the entire performance from song choice to costuming and choreography uncomfortable (it makes Toddlers to Tiaras and the teeny beauty queens from Little Miss Sunshine appear tame). Plus, I’ve never considered Beyonce’s lyrics as a message of empowerment for young girls.

Now put your hands up
Up in the club, we just broke up
I’m doing my own little thing
Decided to dip and now you wanna trip
Cause another brother noticed me

I’m up on him, he up on me
Don’t pay him any attention
Just cried my tears, for three good years
Ya can’t be mad at me

Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don’t be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Oh, oh, oh

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don’t be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it

I got gloss on my lips, a man on my hips
Got me tighter in my Dereon jeans
Acting up, drink in my cup
I can care less what you think

According to Beyonce, empowerment is about making an ex jealous as she struts around with gloss on her lips, a man on her hip in her tight fitting jeans (which Beyonce’s brand, House of Dereon, marketed to young girls in a series of equally disturbing ads featuring girls posing as young women ready to hit the club). If he really “liked it,” he should have “put a ring on it.” Really? That’s a message of empowerment. Personally, I’d like more than the opportunity to rub my gyrating body in my ex’s face for not marrying me.

I don’t even really have the words right now. I just… they’re SEVEN??!! I mean, they’re SEVEN! The song “single ladies” really loses itself on me with SEVEN YEAR OLDS to begin with because, um, aren’t they all SINGLE? And the outfits?! OMG, the outfits. And the dipping and popping and holy cow. The thing is, these girls can DANCE, it seems. Why did whatever adult who was choreographing this feel the need to throw in so much disgusting gratuitous and completely inappropriate sexual innuendoes when these girls could have done something great fully clothed, and without acting like they’re 1 pole short of a strip club?

This song of “empowerment” has as well always perturbed me. “Putting a ring on it”-not only alludes to gross materialism, but as well the idea that women are always looking for a husband. I find this song not only un-empowering to women, but as well for men. They further have more pressure to “buy” their relationships and agree to marriage; only to make sure they’re relationship stays in tact? I thought we were moving beyond this.
Any thoughts on the new video with Beyonce and Lady Gaga, I think it was called Telephone. It got pulled off MTV during the day, and was called female empowering. But I have to admit; the video once again confused me about what exactly it’s about, as I just see dancing naked jailbirds. Any insights into this video that I completely missed?

i don’t even know what to say. this made me sick on so many levels. what the hell are we teaching our kids??!!!! and beyonce: empowerment? i don’t think so. rubbing your backside in someone’s face to show them “what they’re missing out on” isn’t empowerment, it’s flaunting and obnoxious. this literally made my head hurt.

Holy shit, this is disturbing on so many levels. I am absolutely speechless. Why can seven year olds move their bodies like that? When I was in middle school, I wasn’t allowed to wear spaghetti strap tank tops because they showed to much skin. This is absurd!

We can all agree that the dance itself is all kinds of messed up…but also, how much do you have to make a 7 year old practice to make her movements that sharp? The hours that the parents must have made their kids practice adds another level of creepy. No dance recital I was ever in looked that well rehearsed.

Well…..where to begin? The costumes? The song? The dance moves? I think its the dance moves that really show the sad, sad truth. Most hip-hop and pop dance moves originate from African dance. However, African dances are dances of relationship. Young girls in these cultures dance just as the older women do. Yes, the pelvis moves, yes the hips gyrate. But in totally different context. In the context of ritual, drums, relationship between the power of the Earth and the power women hold in their bodies. The movements are a celebration of life. Here and now, the movements are stripped of meaning, power, connection to Earth and just a shocking distortion of feminine sexuality is left. A hollow shell-which women try to fill through all kinds of external grasping. Food, love addiction, co-dependancy, etc. etc. etc. This video is a horrible reminder that we have to begin to stand for our girls. The brainwashing and the extraction of the feminine soul is happening younger and younger.

No problems with dancing or choreography. However, those costumes are simply unacceptable. I simply cannot believe the families of every one of those girls let them wear that in public. I further cannot believe the organization that is organized that event condones dressing small children like that.

Dressing the girls like that in the first place and then putting it on the internet is setting these girls up to be victimized. People need to stop living vicariously through their children. Encouraging children to explore and pursue their own talents is great. Trying to get your 7 year old to be the controversial teen pop star you could not be is totally inappropriate.

indeed, this is kiddie porn. so are the pussycat dolls. so is so much of advertising these days. god, it is maddening and depressing. why do things keep getting worse and worse, instead of better? we were supposed to be making real advances in society. thank goodness my three girls are already teens, and since they were raised without t.v. and school they are not susceptible to this stuff–they just find it creepy. what has become of parenting?

Saw this on the news and my first thought was, “Wow, these girls are amazing dancers!” followed by my second thought, “these outfits are totally inappropriate for this age.”

As a mom of a boy who has taken dance at a good studio, I have seen a lot of risque outfits on young girls and I find make-up repulsive on children. I have also noticed there is some urge in studios to make every little boy dress and move like a homosexual. My son opted to drop out of dance for that reason.

I find the song too adult for these young ladies, but at the same time, knowing that this has caused a stir among the feminists, I may have to reconsider. I have a feeling that the fems would be upset with this video even if the ladies were in their 20’s.

WOW!!! They can dance. No doubt about that. The only thing that I disagree on is the costumes. If they had worn tights and leotards we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. I wish I could move like that. I am 32 and NEVER in my life have been able to move like that. Fabulous dance and Horrible Costumes.

The song and outfit would have not been soo bad if they kept the choreography appropriate. But they didn’t. I had no problem with the showing of their technique but they should not be shaking their hips or butts. They could have kept it cutesy without the need to have their toochies to the audience. Not even would I have been able to do a dance to this in highschool. Certain parts of the choreography would have been too risqué.

these girls are 7. when we see them dance like this we get blown away by their mad talents, but we forget that these little girls are so young they are still loosing their front baby teeth. they are in second grade, learning how to write in cursive, how to subtract 2-digit numbers, trying to grasp the concept of what fractions are, and learning to tell time. this is childhood exploitation taken to abhorrent levels. these parents are definitely living through their girls vicariously. makes me sick to my stomach to see how far people can take this.